Please be kind if you don't agree with my viewpoints....I don't wish to be converted to or from a particular religion. Thanks.Anyway. I consider myself a ChristianL I belive in the Deity of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, and so on. But I get hung up on certain things. One being the Bible as "the inerrant word of God, free without contradiction" I've studied the Bible long enough and in enough different contexts that I don't feel it is "inerrant". There are actually many contradictions, and I tend to be a "red-letter Christian", believing the one only 100% true and error-free words in the Bible are those that Jesus (being God) himself said, everything else is subject to the POV of the person writing it and since it was written by sinful, non-perfect man, cannot possibly be perfect. Good for wisdom and correction, yes. But as infallible Truth, not so much. I also don't believe that it is complete, as the basis for choosing books to include or discard was also determined by imperfect man. Who is to say that there are no modern works of literature which are God-inspired and good for wisdom and correction? If our understanding of God evolved so much between creation and the early church, how can we concretely say that it has stopped evolving?I also get hung up on why sins that are listed only a handful of times in Scripture are given top billing by most Evangelical churches, while those which are warned against repeatedly, hundreds of times, are glossed over or ignored. I cannot in good conscience attend a church that preaches from that standpoint without being open to the possibility that they have grossly misinterpreted the contexts in which certain "sins" are presented. Homosexuality and women in the ministry come to mind...while divorce, war, and depraved indifference to global human suffering are conveniently swept under the rug. I am not trying to validate or debate my position so I am sorry for taking up time with all that. But knowing that I desire an open and affirming church that preaches love to and welcomes ALL people, what denominations should I be exploring? It appears my beliefs most accurately align with Quakers, Mennonites, and Community of Christ (reformed LDS) All three of which are denominations I"m not particularly fond of for various reasons. The mainline (liberal) protestant churches I've visited all seem to be very liturgical (not a make-it-or-break-it thing, but it's not my preference) and full of people in their 70's. (again, not bad. I'd just like to find Christian friends my own age with little kids!) The young, hip, laid back, come-as-you-are churches are great on the surface, but go to a few services and you'll hear the same ol' hate speech. The one church I have found so far that sort of reflects what I'm looking for (at least on their website) turned out to be waaaayyyyy off in left field, with no mention of God or Jesus AT. ALL. the entire service. Not cool. I'm about to give up and just home-church my family...LOL but I crave that fellowship woth like-minded women and families. I just can't do the evangelical, conservative, tea-party "Christians" anymore, and I can't justifiably expose my kids to their hatred and ignorance.Any suggestions on what churches to check out are appreciated! Thank you! :-)

Dark Energy. It can be found in the observable Universe. Found in ratios of 75% more than any other substance. Dark Energy. It can be found in religious extremists, in cheerleaders. To come to the conclusion that Dark signifies mean and malevolent would define 75% of the Universe as an evil force. Alternatively, to think that some cheerleaders don't have razors in their snatch is to be foolishly unarmed.

Ironhold, I'm just thinking that if she has some issues with RLDS, mainstream LDS really ain't gonna work for her.

Mormons worship the gods. That's a leap for most folks who don't want to embrace classical Greco-Roman paganism in LDS form.

*******

"Wesley told the early Methodists to gain all they could and save all they could so that they could give all they could. It means that I consider my money to belong to God and I see myself as one of the hungry people who needs to get fed with God’s money. If I really have put all my trust in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, then nothing I have is really my own anymore."

Please be kind if you don't agree with my viewpoints....I don't wish to be converted to or from a particular religion. Thanks.Anyway. I consider myself a ChristianL I belive in the Deity of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, and so on. But I get hung up on certain things. One being the Bible as "the inerrant word of God, free without contradiction" I've studied the Bible long enough and in enough different contexts that I don't feel it is "inerrant". There are actually many contradictions, and I tend to be a "red-letter Christian", believing the one only 100% true and error-free words in the Bible are those that Jesus (being God) himself said, everything else is subject to the POV of the person writing it and since it was written by sinful, non-perfect man, cannot possibly be perfect. Good for wisdom and correction, yes. But as infallible Truth, not so much. I also don't believe that it is complete, as the basis for choosing books to include or discard was also determined by imperfect man. Who is to say that there are no modern works of literature which are God-inspired and good for wisdom and correction? If our understanding of God evolved so much between creation and the early church, how can we concretely say that it has stopped evolving?I also get hung up on why sins that are listed only a handful of times in Scripture are given top billing by most Evangelical churches, while those which are warned against repeatedly, hundreds of times, are glossed over or ignored. I cannot in good conscience attend a church that preaches from that standpoint without being open to the possibility that they have grossly misinterpreted the contexts in which certain "sins" are presented. Homosexuality and women in the ministry come to mind...while divorce, war, and depraved indifference to global human suffering are conveniently swept under the rug. I am not trying to validate or debate my position so I am sorry for taking up time with all that. But knowing that I desire an open and affirming church that preaches love to and welcomes ALL people, what denominations should I be exploring? It appears my beliefs most accurately align with Quakers, Mennonites, and Community of Christ (reformed LDS) All three of which are denominations I"m not particularly fond of for various reasons. The mainline (liberal) protestant churches I've visited all seem to be very liturgical (not a make-it-or-break-it thing, but it's not my preference) and full of people in their 70's. (again, not bad. I'd just like to find Christian friends my own age with little kids!) The young, hip, laid back, come-as-you-are churches are great on the surface, but go to a few services and you'll hear the same ol' hate speech. The one church I have found so far that sort of reflects what I'm looking for (at least on their website) turned out to be waaaayyyyy off in left field, with no mention of God or Jesus AT. ALL. the entire service. Not cool. I'm about to give up and just home-church my family...LOL but I crave that fellowship woth like-minded women and families. I just can't do the evangelical, conservative, tea-party "Christians" anymore, and I can't justifiably expose my kids to their hatred and ignorance.Any suggestions on what churches to check out are appreciated! Thank you! :-)

Segrc, I completely understand this. I think the reason that it is so hard for me to find a church that I feel like I can be a part of, is because I worry about what my children are being taught in their Sunday classes. In all of the evangelical, non-denominational churches I've gone to, the children are always expected to be in "Kids' Church" while the adults are in the adult worship service. I would rather my children were with me for service, and then we could all split into our respective age group for Sunday school. But, that format is used in the more traditional churches, which half the time don't seem to hardly even have children's ministries at all, because of the age demographic attending the more traditional, denominational Christian churches.

I've been told that the answer is for me to BE the children's Sunday school or Kids' Church teacher, but honestly, other people's kids give me anxiety attacks--not quite literally, but almost!! :) I've tried, and it's just not in my personality to be a good teacher with groups! I'm far too nervous and shy.

And then as far as the teachings that we as adults get, it seems to be all or nothing--it's either very conservative teaching, or else really no teaching at all.

Another challenge is that so many of the women's groups are held during the day, when I am at work, so I don't even have the opportunity to attend any groups anyway. I live in Utah, and actually used to attend the LDS church (the mainstream mormon church, not the FLDS). I loved their focus on families, but they were just too conservative for me on many issues, and demanded a great deal from their congregants, and I couldn't live up to the high commitment (being on committees, having "callings", which are jobs in the church, often very time-consuming ones). I just didn't have the time or the energy to give so much, emotionally or physically (or financially).

So anyway, it's not that I'm trying to be difficult or picky, or that I'm trying to find a church that believes everything that I believe. I just want a place that I can fit into, in terms of the ideas I feel are important, and a place that I can trust with instructing my kids. I've never understood why it's such a difficult thing to find a church to love. I love God passionately, and really do want to find a church, but I've lived in this area for nearly 10 years, and haven't found one that I truly love, or feel a part of.

So I'm obviously no help to you, but I just wanted to let you know that I get it!!!

Dark Energy. It can be found in the observable Universe. Found in ratios of 75% more than any other substance. Dark Energy. It can be found in religious extremists, in cheerleaders. To come to the conclusion that Dark signifies mean and malevolent would define 75% of the Universe as an evil force. Alternatively, to think that some cheerleaders don't have razors in their snatch is to be foolishly unarmed.

I don't either. Probably because, as a solo practitioner, the categories of "faith" and "group of people who profess that they believe the same thing" are seen to be the different things that they are. Damn Christians don't know how good they have it that they can walk down the street and meet people that believe the same thing that they do.